SPIRE Summer 2019

outcomes

Myers sets the BAR High

S hasta Myers did not know exactly how she was going to reach her goals, but she knew if she pushed hard enough, she would find a way. Myers was a single mom of five when she returned to Virginia in 2014. She had been out of work for 15 years at that point, and was living with her parents. That is when she decided to called Attorney Joe Wolfe to ask if she could work for him again. Shasta had worked for his law office once before in the ‘90’s doing data entry when she was going to school for nursing. This time, instead of doing data entry, she handled depositions for about six months. However, childcare became an issue for her, and she, once again, had to leave the law office. In January of 2016, Shasta found herself back in his law office seeking employment. This time she was hired as a paralegal. Wolfe told her, “Go back to school!” Myers responded by saying, “I am all in!” Shasta began attending Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. There she took two paralegal

courses, one in real estate and the other in family law. She also took a tour of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. She remembers telling herself, “I do not know how to get there, but I am going to make it happen.” After touring the Appalachian School of Law, she was unsure of what to do next. All her general studies were completed at Mountain Empire Community College, but she did not have a degree because she took courses in several different programs. “My advisor said my closest degree would be an associate degree in general studies. I left Joe Wolfe in June 2016 to go to school full-time at Mountain Empire Community College.” In December 2016, Shasta moved her family to Big Stone Gap, Virginia. At this point, she knew that she wanted to practice family law and specialize in it. She just had to finish her undergraduate degree. She earned her associate degree in arts and sciences in August 2017, and gained admission to Bluefield College in October 2017. The following year she started looking

into law school and realized the logistics of traveling to Grundy, Virginia, and the Monday-Friday classes the Appalachian School of Law requires of their first-year students. “With classes from 8 a.m. until 3 or 4 p.m. who would pick up my kids and bring them home from school?” Myers started researching the Law Reader Program and the Virginia Board Bar Examination as well as online schools. There were several online legal programs, but none were accredited by the American Bar Association. “I have learned there is a way for everything,” said Myers. “You just have to find it.” Virginia is one of only a few states that allow you to work under a practicing attorney and obtain a law degree without going to law school through a program called the Law Reader Program. She recalled Attorney Roger Rutherford went through the Law Reader Program, so she started searching for a supervisory attorney. “I found an attorney in Big Stone Gap,

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